


Gunpowder, Salt and Ash

by nyawer92



Category: Fullmetal - Fandom, Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Adoption, Adventure & Romance, Alternative Perspective, Canon Backstory, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Drama, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Military, Military Backstory, Past Relationship(s), Politics, Slow Burn, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2019-09-15 02:31:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16924866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyawer92/pseuds/nyawer92
Summary: When hell fire rains from above, what do you do?Do you cower in fear or put on a brave face and hope they don;t see you crumble?





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I'm back with a new fic. Let's see how this goes.  
> Read and review. :)

Soot, ash and gunpowder,

That’s all he saw for miles,

Day in and day out it was the same routine. You rise, you work, you kill, and you fall asleep.  
Only for it to repeat the next day, and the day after that and the day after that….

He didn’t remember the last time he saw a human face; or rather an expressive face that still held the genuineness of human emotions, not a shell of a person he had to encounter every day.

He wonders if his face looks like that to others, devoid of any emotion. Only a rigid and hardened mask to greet the enemy. Lately he wasn’t sure if they could be considered that.  
Everywhere he looked, he saw a rough terrain. The sun was beating down hard on his back as he made the terrible and oft gruesome trek up to the Northwest districts of Ishbal.  
He remembered learning somewhere that the Ishbalans were industrious and believed that the harsh terrain and climate was a lesson from their Lord Isbala to teach them strength and endurance. 

Funny how that works, he thinks to himself. Their great Lord couldn’t save them now. Not while hell rained from above.  
With their sophisticated technology he was certain the poor peasants of Ishbal would surrender soon, they didn’t have an army, any clue on strategy, and they didn’t even have weapons. 

So why fight this war?

He often pondered over the fate of these people, and why he was sent here. Though he does consider himself luckier than most, he doesn’t have to go to the front lines and look them in the eye, and shoot them down like the snipers do. That’s a whole lot of ugly he doesn’t want on his conscience.

He reaches the top of the terrain and gazes upon the war torn land before him. The carnage is overwhelming not to mention the lingering stench of burnt flesh stings his eyes, yet he continues on to his destination.

He should be used to the smell by now but he isn’t. He supposes it’s the small humane side of him that doesn’t let him get too indifferent. He is thankful for that small part of him, if he’ll die in this hell; he wants to go on his own terms. 

That’s what he tells himself anyway.

The bells ring somewhere far away, and he knows he can’t prolong the inevitable. So he trudges along the path of doom and decides to put on his front for the sake of getting out of here alive. 

It’s another day, another round of killing. It never seems to end.


	2. Chapter 2

Roy awoke with a start. Somehow these dreams were getting recurrent by the day, something that constantly put him on edge. Sensing that it was no use going back to sleep since it won’t come so easily. He resigned himself to get up and stretched, cracking his neck while doing so. 

He had fallen asleep on his office couch once again. Didn’t matter, once this case is wrapped up, he’ll make sure to find himself proper accommodations, but for now, this will do. 

He made his way to the men’s restroom to freshen up and fetched himself a steaming mug of coffee. For what it’s worth at least the coffee here was decent. The cook brewed it extra special for him, he supposed being a war hero has its privileges.

He made his way back to the office and leafed through his notes on the case, the latest series of murders that the military had commissioned his team to address. He looked through the deaths of a young family, an unnamed soldier and three women all under the age of twenty one. He sifted through the reports, somehow they were all connected. He knew they were the work of one person, the marks on the dead bodies were too similar to pass up, he just needed to find a common thread between them.

‘Yo! I see you’re up’ said a familiar voice.

‘Morning’ replied Roy, 

‘Busy day huh? Still going over the reports?’

‘How did we manage to get here? We’re commissioned officers in the military, not MP s and detectives!” 

‘Ha! But see, oh blind-sighted one, who better than a war hero and an intelligence stooge.’

Roy sighed. His friend Hughes liked to skate over grave situations. He knew it was Hughes’ defense mechanism, still he found it grating at times like this. 

‘In any case, I think all these murders by the work of one person, but there is a common link here somewhere’ 

‘Quite true, so what are we trying to find here?’

‘Anything, from the victims’ movements to whether or not they made any enemies’ replied Roy.

‘Do you know any incidents that happened on the dates of these murders? So we can rule out any socio-political instances’ he added as an afterthought.

‘Huh, I never noticed. I’ll look it up for you’ replied Hughes. ‘But first, there is something of utmost importance that needs to be addressed’ he leaned in close to hide the secret that he had yet to reveal.

‘You have got to see the latest pictures of my darling Elicia and Gracia’ he instantly thrust two photographs into Roy’s line of sight.

Completely blindsided, Roy had no business looking at his friends’ family pictures. 

‘Hughes, I have plenty to get done so I’ll say this once, stop bothering me with unnecessary nonsense!’

‘Don’t be such a bore’ clearly he didn’t take the hint.

It was another half hour before Roy could get Hughes to leave but not before dropping the bomb on him.

‘Oh by the way, forgot to mention a tiny detail….A delegation from Eastern headquarters is coming over to assist in the case. Obviously the higher ups think we’re taking too long. Well bye’ he waltzed out of the room immediately.

‘Wait-Hughes’ Roy called after him, but it was a lost cause.

A delegation from the East? What the hell was that all about? They didn’t think they were good enough in Central? 

Roy tried not to mull over it, he had to let the delegation know that they didn’t need their help, that they were handling the murder case fine on their own. They even had a list of suspects lined up that they had to interview. Eastern headquarters was full of war veterans, He’ll show those old codgers that they didn’t need their wish-washy nonsense here.

So with a heavy sigh, Roy got back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so I decided to pick up most of my stories. Please bear with me, the story is still developing.  
> Let me know what you think in the comments :)


End file.
